House Dems urge Mulvaney to reject proposed rollback of transgender health protections

A group of 127 House Democrats is calling on White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney to reject a proposal that would roll back ObamaCare’s anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients.

The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), currently being reviewed by OMB, is expected to be released later this summer.

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In a letter sent Wednesday, Democrats said it would allow health-care providers to deny treatment to transgender patients and women who have had abortions.

The proposal “will put individuals’ lives and health in danger and would be especially harmful to women and LGBTQ individuals, who are more often the victims of discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote.

The proposed rule is expected to roll back a controversial anti-discrimination provision buried within ObamaCare.

The sweeping 2016 policy from the Obama administration prohibited health-care providers and insurers who receive federal money from denying treatment or coverage to anyone based on sex, gender identity, or termination of pregnancy, among other conditions.

It also required doctors and hospitals to provide “medically necessary” services to transgender individuals, as long as those services were the same ones provided to others.

The letter noted HHS telegraphed its policy of discrimination when it removed language regarding sex stereotyping, gender identity and sexual orientation from the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of the HHS webpage about policy.

Religious providers say they expect the Trump administration’s rule would merely reinforce their right not to provide treatment that’s against their beliefs.

But the Democrats, led by Reps. Julia Brownley (Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Diana DeGette (Colo.), and Barbara Lee (Calif.), said the rule would be an overreach of executive authority.

“As a former Member of Congress, and a staunch opponent of executive overreach in the last administration, we know you understand this concern,” the Democrats wrote to Mulvaney.